Business Process Automation Insights

Why Co-Branded Documents are Essential for Indirect Sales

Written by Chelsea Carter | June 9, 2020

A powerful brand understands how to stand out from the field and differentiate itself from the competition. When it comes to marketing a company in a co-branding partnership, organizations must learn how to bring together a strong brand with an excellent third party relationship that will build sales.

The right co-branding relationship can help brands build their following, reputation, and customers. It will increase indirect sales and give a boost to brand awareness. To ensure that the strategy is used correctly, however, brands must have an excellent understanding of the co-branding relationship and how to use it to their advantage.

Here is what you need to know to make this relationship work for you.

What are co-branded documents?

Co-branding documents refer to the resources you create about your product. You can then pass on these documents to distributors and partners who will help you generate sales and expand your consumer base.

These documents should help you accentuate the benefits of the product you create, making it easy for your partner to add their own branding to the document and use it to promote your organization and sell your product.

These co-branded documents can come in a variety of forms, including data and sales sheets that help your partner know about the benefits that you think will speak to your customers the most. This can help them have the appropriate sales conversations and better promote your product, increasing your sales rates.

The key is high-quality content that calls attention to the value of the product or service at hand, helping the partner to market and sell successfully.

What value do co-branded documents offer in indirect sales?

Since indirect sales involve sales made through third parties, creating documents that help your partners market your organization plays a critical role.

To build a strong consumer base through indirect sales, organizations need to have guidelines that help them promote their company through their partners. They need to know how their logo should be represented, the type of messaging they want to get across, and how they can promote their products and services without creating a brand-heavy document that their partners will not want to promote.

Through carefully planned co-branding, organizations can turn to the right partners to get their message in front of potentially interested customers that they would not have had access to otherwise.

These documents can help partners improve their sales processes and marketing, while also providing them with the space to reflect their own organization. Both sides of the partnership see success.

How can partners and distributors use the co-branded documents?

You want your co-branded documents to clearly articulate what makes your product the right choice for buyers. This will open doors for your sales partners.

Co-branded documents can help third parties train their sales professionals so that they can better steer conversations with potential buyers towards your product and what it can do for them. They will have a clear understanding of the pain points your product helps to fill and who might be interested in it.

It also provides an excellent resource for a distributor who wants to host a sale or promotion. They can use your documents to explain what makes your product attractive, and you can remain confident that the product is presented in the language that accurately reflects your branding and messaging.

Providing the co-branded document to the third parties and empowering them to add their own branding, can help you create a more collaborative environment. This builds your product efforts and helps you get it in front of new audiences and prospective customers.

How do you make co-branded documents available for partner networks?

Creating co-branded documents will help you take advantage of the networks of your partners and all that they can offer you and your company. As you begin to create your strategy, consider these guidelines that can help you create materials that will amplify your organization.

  1. Before you get started, articulate exactly what you want to accomplish with your co-branded documents. A clear definition of your goals can help you better understand how you want to move forward with your partners.
  2. Consider carefully the partners you work with. You want to make sure that your goals, audience, messaging, and brand image will align well so nothing detracts from your reputation.
  3. Consider how you can create co-branded documents that will also allow space for them to brand with their own organizational messaging. Remember that for them to use your documents to market your products, they will want to feel that it represents how they speak to their customers, too.
  4. Speak with partners to determine how your organizations can work together on co-branded documents. See if there are particular types of documents that can help them in their marketing and promotional efforts.
  5. Outline with your partners precisely how the documents will be used. Make it clear to them how you want your products and services represented and how that is reflected in your language. Open the dialogue with them so that they understand how the co-branded documents can help them build their sales rates and benefit both of you.

Co-branded documents can help your organization reach a wider audience and grow your company. Despite this potential, many businesses overlook the opportunities offered with this form of marketing. Consider how you can use this strategy to strengthen your brand, build your reputation, and boost company reach by making it easy for your partners to market your products and increase your indirect sales. Contact ManoByte for additional guidance on best co-branding practices and partner relationship management software. We are here to help.